KENTUCKY (9/22/13) - I guess I am one of those old-fashioned guys still wearing a suit. Only one thing I do not like about my suits. I feel most comfortable in the suit and so I have several suits that I wear on a rotating basis.

The only negative side of wearing suits is occasionally you have to replace them.

All sorts of reasons why a suit needs to be replaced and one is that you grow out of it or it grows out of you. Either way the suit has to be replaced.

Another reason is that something happened to the suit and there is some tear necessitating the whole suit being replaced. The key here is not to let my wife know that there is a small tear in my suit. The moment she discovers the slightest tear in one of my suits she begins her plan of having that suit replaced.

A slightly worn spot on my suit coat begins my wife thinking of replacing it. Trust me; I try to hide it as much as possible to keep it from the ever-piercing eyes of my wife who sees through everything, even things that are not there.

Despite my attempts to conceal the issue, my wife spotted a small tear on my suit coat. It happened to be my favorite suit coat. I can recall exactly when and how the split occurred. I kept that information away from my wife as long as I possibly could; now I had to pay the piper.

Early Monday morning we were off to the men’s store to purchase another suit. As soon as we walked in, we were greeted by a young man to which my wife said, “We’re here to buy a suit.”

I figured I better step in before the conversation got out of control. “We’re looking for a grey suit.”

“I understand,” said the young man as he thoughtfully pulled at his chin looking down the long row of suits. “And what color grey are you looking for?”

“Say what,” I said.

“What color grey are you looking for?”

As far as I was concerned, grey was grey and that was the color I was looking for.

“We have a variety of grey suits. There is a charcoal grey. Light grey. Dark grey.” He went on and on about the variety of grey colors in his shop. According to him, there were at least 50 shades of grey.

Believe me, there was not anything romantic about that!

All I wanted was a grey suit. To me, grey is grey. I do not want my suit to be a fashion statement. I want my suit to say nothing at all.

We walked out of the men’s store with a new suit and my wife had a wonderful smile on her face. I on the other hand, had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach realizing just how much this grey suit cost me.

I have a new appreciation for what the apostle Paul said. “That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man” (Ephesians 3:16 KJV).

It is not the outside that really matters, but the inside of a man.

Rev. James L. Snyder is pastor of the Family of God Fellowship, PO Box 831313, Ocala, FL 34483. He lives with his wife, Martha, in Silver Springs Shores. Call him at 1-866-552-2543 or e-mail
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. His web site is www.jamessnyderministries.com.

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